EU’s chief negotiator disappointed
BRUSSELS, April 25, (Agencies): The European Commission’s Chief Negotiator on a new EU-UK partnership, Michel Barnier has expressed disappointment over the lack of progress on negotiations with the UK.
“The UK did not wish to commit to engage seriously on a number of fundamental points,” he told an online press conference in Brussels today after the second round of negotiations on a new EU-UK partnership via videoconference.
The UK government, he said, rejects any extension of the transition period which ends on 31 December, and added that the UK cannot refuse to extend the transition and slowdown discussions on important areas.
“We cannot accept to make selective progress on a limited set of issues. We need to make progress on all issues in parallel. We need to find solutions in the most difficult topics,” said Barnier.
He mentioned four areas “in which the progress this week was disappointing”.
These areas are negotiations about a level playing field, the governance of the future partnership, the criminal and security partnership, and fisheries.
“The UK chose to be a third country and as a consequence it cannot be treated as an EU member state. We must take this fact as our starting point.” he said.
Period
The UK left the EU on 31 January and the two sides agreed on a transition period till 31 December for the completion of a new trade deal.
Meanwhile, Dr. Meenal Viz cut a solitary figure as she staged a onewoman protest outside the prime minister’s Downing Street residence. She held a hand-lettered placard bearing a simple message: “Protect healthcare workers.”
But she wasn’t truly alone. Four weeks after the British government ordered most people to stay indoors to slow the spread of the coronavirus, health care workers across the country complain they still do not have enough masks, face shields, gowns and other protective equipment. Hospital officials have threatened to discipline workers if they do not stop publicizing the problem, they say.
Health care workers worldwide have reported similar shortages, but the frustration is heightened in Britain because of the revered position held by the National Health Service, which has provided medical care for free since 1948. Physicians complain that government action does not seem to match the rhetoric of politicians who laud NHS doctors and nurses for risking their lives to treat the sick. The failure of a shipment of some 400,000 surgical gowns to arrive as promised over the weekend was only the latest disappointment.
Viz refused to be silent after the deaths of at least 27 NHS employees – a figure the government acknowledges is certain to grow. One death hit close to home: Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, a 28-year-old London nurse who died after her baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section. Viz, 27, is six months’ pregnant.
“It’s affecting our work as doctors because we show up on a daily basis to fight for our patients, and if we’re given the right protection, we will run a marathon for them. But ... we don’t have that support,” she said. “We are stuck in a dilemma, a moral dilemma. How much can I help my patient? But I also need to help myself as well.”
Some doctors and nurses are relying on donated goggles designed for school science projects, handmade masks and equipment purchased at home-improvement stores, according to the Doctors Association UK, which lobbies on behalf of front-line doctors.
Nurses report holding their breath during some procedures for fear that flimsy masks will not shield them from the virus, the association said.
In a survey of 6,000 medical professionals released Sunday by the British Medical Association, around half of doctors working in high-risk areas said there were shortages of long-sleeved disposable gowns and disposable goggles. In other hospital settings, 50% said scrubs and eye protection were in short supply.
“Two months into the COVID-19 crisis in Britain, we shouldn’t still be hearing that doctors feel unprotected when they go to work,” said Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the council of British Medical Association, the union that represents doctors. “The government says that 1 billion items will soon have been shipped, and while there have been signs of improvement, our research clearly shows that equipment is not reaching all doctors working on the front line.”
In a tacit acknowledgement that more action is needed, the government on Sunday tapped the man who led the organizing committee for the 2012 London Olympics to spearhead improvements. In a statement that compared Paul Deighton to World War II aircraft czar Lord Beaverbrook, the government issued a “call to arms” to U.K. manufacturers.
Nishant Joshi, an emergency doctor at a hospital north of London, said hospitals are rationing inconsistent supplies.